Keystone Foe Added to Obama Inner Circle With Podesta

By Jim Snyder and Jim Efstathiou Jr. -
Dec 10, 2013

John Podesta’s return to the White
House, aimed at bolstering President Barack Obama, places an
opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline within his circle just as
the administration weighs whether to approve the project.

The Democratic veteran, who previously served as President
Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, joins the administration as
Obama’s approval ratings have fallen to all-time lows after the
fumbled rollout of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act. White House spokesman Jay Carney said Podesta, 64, will
advise on a range of issues, “with a particular focus on issues
of energy and climate change.”

Environmental groups heralded Podesta’s return to the White
House, noting his advocacy for addressing the risks of climate
change. In 2003, Podesta established the Center for American
Progress, whose advocacy arm last week co-sponsored a conference
where Keystone opponents argued that it would violate a climate-change standard that Obama set in June.

“When it comes to Keystone, there’s no question John is an
opponent,” Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the
Center for American Progress, which is aligned with the
Democratic Party, said in an interview. “But he’s going to be
an honest broker. He’s going to make sure that the president
hears both sides of the debate.”

Uncertain Role

The White House didn’t immediately respond to questions on
Podesta’s potential role in judging the Keystone pipeline. He is
the second addition in a week to a West Wing trying to regroup
from the Obamacare setbacks. Phil Schiliro, Obama’s former
congressional liaison and a onetime Democratic aide in the U.S.
House, is returning to oversee implementation of the health-care
law.

Podesta will also counsel Obama on White House organization
and how to leverage his executive authority to get legislation
passed during the three years remaining in his presidency.

New to Obama’s White House, Podesta has been an outside
adviser since before the president took office. He led Obama’s
transition team after the 2008 election and as chairman of the
Center for American Progress had close ties to the White House.

He is a frequent critic of fossil fuels. In a June 23,
2010, speech, Podesta called the extraction of the oil sands
“polluting, destructive, expensive, and energy intensive.”

Quicker Transition

“We need to reduce fossil-fuel use and accelerate the
transition to cleaner technologies, in the transportation sector
and elsewhere,” Podesta said, according to a text of the speech
on the American Progress website.

Podesta “knows the danger of our reliance on dirty fuels
like tar sands and recognizes climate disruption as one of the
most pressing challenges of our time,” Michael Brune, executive
director of the Sierra Club, a San Francisco-based environmental
group, said in a statement in response to Podesta’s return to
the White House.

A spokesman for TransCanada Corp. (TRP), the Calgary-based
company that is proposing to build the $5.4 billion link between
Alberta’s oil sands and refineries on the U.S. Gulf of Mexico,
declined to say what Podesta’s new post might mean for Keystone.

“It’s not our place to comment on potential staff changes
at the White House, but as a company, we remain focused on the
regulatory process that the U.S. Department of State has been
overseeing for more than five years,” Shawn Howard, the
spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement.

Energy Co-Author

Podesta co-wrote a January 2012 guest editorial critical of
Keystone in the Wall Street Journal with Tom Steyer, a
billionaire who has bankrolled opposition to Keystone.

In the piece, the two criticized conservatives for pushing
the pipeline to “import more foreign oil and deepen U.S.
dependence,” when the nation’s own energy resources, including
natural gas production and renewables like wind and solar power,
were on the rise.

In an e-mail today, Steyer called Podesta “an outstanding
advocate for our environment, as well as one of the smartest and
most dedicated people I have had the pleasure of working with.”
The statement didn’t specifically mention Keystone.

The U.S. State Department is overseeing an environmental
analysis of the Keystone XL project that will say whether it
exacerbates climate-change risks.

A draft report released in March said that Keystone
wouldn’t significantly raise the risks of global warming because
the oil sands would be developed even if it were rejected,
delivered to market by other pipelines and by rail.
Environmental groups have criticized that finding, calling
Keystone a “linchpin” to development.

Carbon Issue

Obama said in a June speech on climate change at Georgetown
University that he wouldn’t approve Keystone if it was found to
significantly worsen carbon pollution.

“The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate
will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project
is allowed to go forward,” Obama said. “It’s relevant.”

Extraction and refining of oil sands releases more carbon
dioxide emissions than other forms of crude oil. Supporters say
Keystone will create thousands of jobs and improve U.S. energy
security. Backers also argue that Keystone won’t increase
climate risks because it will replace heavy crude oil from
Mexico and Venezuela that has a similar carbon footprint.

“John Podesta is a hugely skilled operative,” Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist and president of MWR Strategies
Inc., a Midlothian, Virginia-based lobbying firm, said in an
interview. “Whatever Obama ultimately gives as an excuse to
reject Keystone, Podesta is going to help him sell it.”

Podesta has been an outside adviser to Obama since before
the president took office. He led Obama’s transition team after
the 2008 election.

Both Podesta’s and Schiliro’s positions are temporary and
don’t require Senate confirmation. Podesta, who will begin in
early January, has agreed to serve for a year. Schiliro, who is
only returning to the White House for a couple of months, was
Obama’s chief envoy to Capitol Hill when the health-care law was
passed in 2010.